Braggadocio
by xXWeaponPrimeXx
Summary: An acute case of being careful what you wish for.


It was well after lights out in the camp. Trooper Denton of the Brakkan 53rd was on his third lap of the compound so far this night. Coincidentally he was also running out of songs to hum. The night watch was terribly boring this far from the front. Not that Denton wanted so see the xenos scum up close, of course. The filthy xenos were not to be looked upon. But, he was awfully curious. I mean, he was expected to shoot at them, so surely the God-Emperor would not mind if he were to look upon them. Strictly in a tactical sense.

He let out a long low sigh as he shuffled along the perimeter. That was when he spotted it. A shadow slinking among the mechanicum tents. Denton stopped and narrowed his eyes as he unslung his lasgun and gripped it tightly. The figure had a box or something in its grip. As he watched the shadow looked left and right and disappeared into a large pre-fab building.

 _Finally!_ Denton thought as he rushed forward and braced himself against the wall. He checked that the safety was off, that the power cell was fully charged, and that his torch was on. Then he took a deep breath. As he let it out he twisted, kicked open the door, and aimed into the darkness.

"FREEZE!" he shouted as he aimed his lasgun at a trio of men sitting on some up-turned crates in the center of the room. They each clutched a bottle of amber liquid, and between them was a small crate marked 'Officer's Only' with a Departmento Munitorum brand.

"Oi! Keep it down! Ya wanna bring da Commissars down on our asses?" one of them said as he took a big swig from his bottle. The others chuckled, shook their heads and resumed their drinking as well.

Denton faltered and the muzzle of his lasgun dipped a bit. "I... what? What's..." He raised his gun again and aimed it at the soldiers once more. "What are you doing in here? This is a restricted area!" he said, alternating aiming at each one of the trio in turn.

"Settle down, boyo. We's jus' havin' a nice drink. Care to join us?" another of the trio said.

"N-no! Put the bottles down! This is a restricted area and that," he said, shining his torch on the crate, "-is for officers only!"

"C'mon lad, don't be a buzzkill." said the largest of the three. "Ain't no one gonna miss one case of amasec. Besides, me and the boys here had a rough couple'a weeks at the front. Why not cut us some slack?"

The barrel of his lasgun dipped again.

"Th-the front?" he asked, sounding like a curious child. "You've been at the front?" The big man smiled and nodded, and Denton's lasgun lowered a little more. "W-what's it like?" The big man smiled and, with one arm, hauled over another crate.

"Aren't you the eager pup." he said as Denton hesitantly moved over to take a seat. "Sit yerself down, grab a bottle and we'll swap stories, ya?"

Denton was on the verge of tears with laughter. He wiped at his eyes and lifted the bottle to his lips again to take another swig as the big man continued his story.

"So's, me and the boys here are in our Sentinels, and we just says 'frag it' and charge. Our lascannons were half out of power and those Carnifexes were healing almost as fast as we could blast'em." said the big man. Who had he introduced himself as? Volden? Or was Volden the one sitting across from him? Whatever, it wasn't that important. No, maybe that was Kryztanten. "An' I swear by the God-Emperor himself, I saw them Carnifexes shit themselves." Volden reached over and clapped his buddy on the back roughly. "Ol' Zyndec here tackled one to the ground and blew its head off with the last of his lascannon shots."

Zyndec mock bowed, complete with an elegant twirl of his hand at the wrist. "T'weren't nothin'." Denton gave the man his due applause, spilling more than a little of his drink in the process. I looked down at the stain on his normally clean uniform and frowned.

"I think I drank to mush..." he slurred. Volden laughed heartily and clapped him on the back, nearly knocking him off of his seat.

"Nonsense, the night's still young. There's still more drink to be had and more stories to be told, pup."

"Well..." Denton said as he tried to focus really hard, "...one more couldn't hurt." He brought the bottle to his lips only to discover that it was empty. He tilted it over and gave a shake before frowning. "Wish I could see and do the things you guys do." he mumbled as he gestured for Volden to hand him another bottle. He was too drunk to notice the smiles the others were giving him.

"TROOPER DENTON!"

Denton jerked awake and blinked his eyes blearily.

"S-sorry guys, I jus-"

"Trooper! What is the meaning of this?!"

Denton blinked some more and peered up at the figure standing over him. The tall, angry looking figure that was wearing the same uniform as his boorish commanding o- oh shit...

"C-c-captain Langstrom!" Denton said as he scrambled unsteadily to his feet. "S-sir, we were just-"

"We trooper?!" the Captain barked.

"Yes, sir. W-" Denton said as he twisted to indicate the friends he'd made last night. The friends who were nowhere in sight. He felt his stomach lurch and he turned to look into the angry red face of his captain. Langstrom's hand lashed out and grabbed Denton roughly about the collar and he started dragging him from the building.

"I knew you were a worthless lout, trooper," he barked as hauled Denton away from the supply building. A small audience began to form as his captain dragged him through the camp while berating him loudly. He touched upon his upbringing, his lack of willpower and even mention a lack of faith in the God-Emperor.

After several minutes they arrived at command tent and he was roughly deposited in a folding chair set before a large table. "Normally," his captain continued, having finally pausing long enough to take a breath, "such gross disregard would be met with death." Denton blanched and his stomach gave another violent lurch. "However, you are able-bodied if grossly stupid. Lucky for you there is a penal legion deployed on his world. Effective immediately you will be folded into their ranks and I will never see you again." The captain stamped several sheets of paper with what seemed like more force than necessary and handed them to Denton. "Trooper, take this garbage back to your camp, immediately." A large, meaty hand clamped down on Denton's shoulder and he tensed.

"Sho thing, Captain." said a very familiar voice. Denton whipped around and stared up at the smiling face of Kryztanten.

"Welcome to the Chem-Dogs, pup."

That was when Denton threw up.


End file.
